Compressive indentation fastener device
A compression indentation fastener device is described comprising a shank and a head. The head extends outwardly from an end of the shank in a transverse plane to define a head periphery. The head has an anterior side and a posterior side. The anterior side includes an exposed area extending between the shank and the head periphery. The anterior side includes a relief portion in the form of a depression. The relief portion is open at the anterior side of the head such that the relief portion receives a volume of substrate material when the exposed area of the head impacts the substrate material. The head may be integral with the shank or the head may be comprised of discrete head portions that mate with one another. Additionally, the head may be centered on the end of the shank or offset relative to the shank.
Latest SR Systems, LLC Patents:
This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/010,163, filed Jun. 10, 2014 and U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/108,259, filed Jan. 27, 2015. The present application is also related to U.S. application Ser. No. 14/735,934, entitled “ENLARGED HEAD FASTENER DEVICE AND METHOD OF MANUFACTURE”), filed on the same day as this application. The entire disclosures of the above applications are incorporated herein by reference.
FIELDThe subject disclosure generally relates to fasteners. By way of example and without limitation, such fasteners may be used in the construction industry for securing multiple building components to one another.
BACKGROUNDThis section provides background information related to the present disclosure and is not necessarily prior art.
Nail-like fasteners have been used for thousands of years. Some archeological evidence suggests that nail-like fasteners may have been used in Mesopotamia as long ago as 3500 B.C. Early nails were forged or shaped with hammers. Several millennia later in the 1500s A.D. machines were developed to produce a “cut-nail” fastener from a strip of iron. Not until the mid-1800s were machines and methods developed to produce nail-like fasteners made from metal wire. Most nail-like fasteners of the present day are still produced by machines, methods, and techniques that utilize a metal wire forming process.
At the beginning of the American Revolution, England held the distinction of being the world's leading producer of nails. At that time, there was essentially no nail production taking place in the American Colonies on a commercial scale. As a result many Colonial households setup a simple nail manufacturing process in their homes using home fires as a manufacturing tool. Colonist made nails for their own use as well as for bartering for other goods and services. The first wide spread manufacture of wire nails in the USA was in 1877-1879 using iron wire from Norway. Wire nails had been used in Norway for many years prior to their introduction to the USA construction market. Testing as early as the year 1884, conducted by the Watertown Arsenal, in Watertown, Mass., revealed that cut-nails had superior withdrawal resistance compared to iron wire nails. However, because the wire nails could be produced at significantly lower cost than cut-nails, the construction industry gravitated to wire nails and away from cut-nails. Now, over 130 years later, there are over 2,000 varieties of nail-like fasteners being produced in modern times.
Nail-like fasteners are used for many purposes and are designed for use in many types of materials and/or applications. One application is in the wood frame construction industry, where nail-like fasteners are utilized to fasten wood and/or wood-like materials together. In general, the construction industry has many applications for residential and/or commercial structures using structural substrate components made of wood and/or wood-like materials. The wood and/or wood-like substrate materials receive fastener devices that are applied to restrain and/or couple the wood and/or wood-like substrate materials to one another and to other construction components. Typical fasteners such as nails, screws, and bolts generally include a longitudinally extending shank and a head that extends radially outwardly from the end of the shank.
Many standard nails are loose, which facilitate being driven by hand while many other nails are collated or coiled in some fashion to facilitate use with a powered delivery system. In a similar fashion, screws are available for application by hand and/or powered delivery systems. Typically, bolted fasteners are manually installed while final torque is either applied manually or with the assistance of a powered system. There are many features applied to the shanks of nails, screws, and bolts to assist the retention and holding strength of the fastener. Some features that have been applied to the shank of nail-like fasteners include special coatings, spiral twisting, ring shanks, knurls, barbs, ribs, and splines, just to name a few. Some nail-like and/or screw-like fasteners combine multiple shank features on the same shank. In similar fashion, screw-like and bolt-like shanks feature many different kinds of thread patterns, continuous threads, discontinuous threads, single flutes, multiple flutes, special coatings, and combinations of thread patterns on the same shank, just to name a few. Even though many variations exist, the heads of most fasteners used in residential and commercial construction to connect and/or restrain wood and/or wood like materials are relatively small in size. Furthermore, the heads of most typical fasteners are designed and manufactured in such a way that they cut and/or rupture surface fibers of the substrate material.
When a typical fastener is installed in a typical wood and/or wood-like substrate material, a tug-a-war of sorts results between the substrate material and the fastener. For instance, a typical plywood roof decking substrate material of a typical wood frame construction is fastened to a wood rafter framing substrate material using a nail. In many regions near coastal areas prone to high wind storms, building codes require at least an 8 d nail applied in a prescribed pattern and spacing in order to achieve a safe working load design. The tug-a-war in this scenario plays out during a high wind storm as the roof decking substrate material is challenged to come off and separate from the wood rafter framing substrate material. Effectively, the only thing holding the roof decking substrate material together with the wood rafter substrate material are the nails. The nail shanks are challenged to not withdraw from the wood rafter substrate material while at the same time the nail head is challenged to not pull-through the roof decking substrate material.
The weakest link in the pull-through withdrawal tug-of-war will fail first such that one of three failure modes results. In the first failure mode, the nail shank will withdraw from the wood rafter substrate material so that the nail head remains embedded in the roof decking substrate material (i.e. the roof decking substrate material lifts off the wood rafter substrate material taking the nails with it.) In the second failure mode, the nail head will pull-through the roof decking substrate material and the nail shank will remain embedded in the wood rafter substrate (i.e. the roof decking substrate material lifts off the wood rafter substrate material while the nails remain in the wood rafter substrate material). A third failure mode, less common than the first and second failure modes, is fastener failure, where the nail head or the shank fails due to breakage, bending, or shearing. When any one of these three failure modes occur, the wood roof decking substrate material comes off resulting in the building suffering extensive damage and property loss.
Independent third party lab testing conducted by NTA, Inc. has demonstrated that commonly used nails lose as much as half of their initial withdrawal resistance within two days of being driven in place. Then after about a month later, the wood fibers of the substrate material will cooperate with the nail to slightly increase its withdrawal resistance, though the final withdrawal resistance will still be significantly less than the initial resistance.
Shank features such as barbs, ring shanks, spirals, and flutes have been shown to lose significant withdrawal resistance when the substrate material is subjected to environmental conditions, which causes the dry shrinking of wood substrate fibers over long periods of time. In addition, shank features such as barbs, ring shanks, spirals, and flutes have been shown to lose significant withdrawal resistance when the nail and substrate material are subjected to vibration, which may be created by storm winds beating upon a structure, seismic activity generated by tornadoes beating the ground as they travel, and seismic activity associated with earth quakes and ground shifting.
Examples of nail-like fasteners include those disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 387,380 entitled “Flat Pointed Nail or Tack,” which issued to J. F. Thayer on Aug. 7, 1888, U.S. Pat. No. 2,093,610 entitled “Nail,” which issued to S. Kraemer on Sep. 21, 1937, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,932,820 entitled “Nail With Differential Holding Capabilities Along Its Shank,” which issued to Schniedermeier on Jun. 12, 1990. One short coming of the fasteners described in these patents is that the heads can easily cut and/or rupture the surface fibers of the wood and/or wood-like substrate material. Another significant shortcoming of fasteners of this type is that the pull-through resistance of the fastener does not increase proportionally with an increase in the thickness of the substrate material. Independent third party testing by NTA, Inc. reveals that as the thickness of the substrate material increases, the pull-through resistance of such fasteners increases to a lesser extent.
Some people in the construction industry have improvised and resorted to using a flat washer under the head of the fastener to enlarge the effective bearing surface of the fastener. While using a washer-type device does increase the bearing surface, it also increases the relative thickness of the head of the fastener causing it to protrude above the surface of the substrate material. If the fastener and washer combination is driven in to be flush with the surface of the substrate material, then the substrate material can often be cut, compromised, and/or damaged such that it is easily susceptible to further deformation and subsequent loss of structural integrity.
Examples of nail-like fasteners used in combination with a washer-like device include U.S. Pat. No. 2,256,401 entitled “Fastener,” which issued to H. Maze on Sep. 16, 1941, U.S. Pat. No. 4,860,513 entitled “Roofing Fastener,” which issued to Whitman on Aug. 29, 1989, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,884,932 entitled “Decking Insulation Fastener,” which issued to Meyer on Dec. 5, 1989. A short coming of the fasteners disclosed in these patents includes that the washer-like devices are not designed to prevent cutting and/or rupturing the surface fibers of the wood and/or wood-like material substrate. Similar to the way a nail head ruptures the surface fibers of the wood substrate, the washer-like device does so as well, but at a larger diameter than the nail head diameter.
Others have developed nails with enlarged heads to increase the effective bearing surface of the fastener. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,758,018 entitled “Power Driven Nails For Sheathing Having Enlarged Diameter Heads For Enhanced Retention And Method,” which issued to Sutt, Jr. on Jul. 6, 2004, discloses a fastener with an enlarged head requiring a specific ratio between the size of the head and the size of the shank. The enlarged head specified by this ratio results in increased pull-through resistance compared to commonly used nails. Fasteners available in the marketplace under the brand name “Hurriquake” are a derivative of this patent. Testing reveals that fasteners of this type do exhibit increased pull-through resistance compared to fasteners having a smaller tradition sized head. However, when subjected to the destructive forces of only moderate wind storms the modest improvement in retention force that is realized with such fasteners is basically mute, still allowing pull-through, and still resulting in a loss of structural integrity. As a result, higher wind load forces associated with Category-5 hurricanes and/or EF-5 tornadic storm events easily overcome the benefits of such fasteners. One of the shortcomings of this design is that the geometric features of the nail head are relatively flat and planar. Therefore, the benefit of the enlarged head size compared to the shank of the fastener is limited because of the inherent detrimental benefits of the geometric shape of the head design. Specifically, enlarged head nails have been shown to include several significant failure modes. One failure mode occurs where the surface fibers of the wood substrate material become ruptured and split from the initial setting of the nail before pull-through forces are applied. Another failure mode occurs where the enlarged heads of the nails become noticeably distorted and wobbled after pulling through the substrate material, resembling an umbrella turned inside out as a result of strong winds. Yet another significant shortcoming observed in the testing was that the corresponding pull-through resistance of the nails tested in various thicknesses of substrates materials was not equivalent to the increased thickness of the substrate. In other words, in spite of the enlarged head, independent third party testing reveals that as the thickness of the substrate material increases, there is not a corresponding increase in the pull-through resistance for nails of this design.
Accordingly, there remains a need for an improved fastener head design that increases pull-through resistance of nail-like fasteners, screw-like fasteners, and bolt-like fasteners.
SUMMARYThis section provides a general summary of the disclosure, and is not a comprehensive disclosure of its full scope or all of its features.
In accordance with one aspect of the subject disclosure, a compression indentation fastener device comprising a shank and a head is provided. The shank extends along a shank axis between a first end and a second end. The head is disposed at the second end of the shank. The head generally extends outwardly from the second end of the shank in a transverse plane to define a head periphery. The transverse plane is substantially perpendicular to the shank axis. The head has an anterior side adjacent the second end of the shank and a posterior side opposite the anterior side. The anterior side of the head includes an exposed area that is arranged to impact a first surface of a substrate material. The exposed area extends between the second end of the shank and the head periphery. The anterior side of the head also includes a relief portion disposed between the shank and the head periphery. The relief portion is a depression that extends continuously about the second end of the shank. The relief portion is open at the anterior side of the head such that the relief portion receives a volume of the substrate material when the exposed area of the anterior side of the head impacts the first surface of the substrate material.
In accordance with another aspect of the subject disclosure the head includes a through hole that extends from the posterior side of the head to the anterior side of the head. The through hole is provided for receiving a fastener, such as the shank of the fastener for example. In accordance with this configuration, the exposed area extends between the through hole and the head periphery. Thus, the relief portion on the anterior side of the head is also disposed between the through hole and the head periphery and extends continuously about the through hole. Again, the relief portion is a depression that is open at the anterior side of the head to receive a volume of the substrate material when the exposed area of the anterior side of the head impacts the first surface of the substrate material. The relief portion of the anterior side of the head includes a convergent surface and a divergent surface. The convergent surface extends outwardly from the through hole at an angle to define a frustoconical structure that extends about the through hole. Meanwhile, the divergent surface extends outwardly from the convergent surface toward the head periphery.
In accordance with yet another aspect of the subject disclosure, the shank extends linearly along the shank axis, between the first and second ends. The anterior side of the head includes both an exposed area and a shank area. The exposed area is arranged to impact the first surface of the substrate material and the shank area designates that area of the anterior side where the second end of the shank meets the anterior side of the head. In accordance with this configuration, the head is offset relative to the second end of the shank. The relief portion on the anterior side of the head is thus positioned to one side of the shank. Again, the relief portion is a depression that is open at the anterior side of the head to receive a volume of the substrate material when the exposed area of the anterior side of the head impacts the first surface of the substrate material.
Accordingly, the fastener devices described herein provide a number of advantages and overcome the short comings of existing fasteners. First, the fastener head design described herein provides substantially improved retention capabilities combined with superior pull-through resistance compared to conventional small-head fasteners. In addition, the subject fastener devices overcome the short comings of using standard washer-like components that only enlarge the effective bearing surface of relatively small-head fasteners. The relief portion of the fastener devices described herein functions to laterally displace and compress areas of the substrate material that are disposed adjacent the convergent and divergent surfaces of the relief portion. This creates a volume of the substrate material that is received by the relief portion as the head impacts the first surface of the substrate material. This volume of compressed substrate material is more resistant to pull-through failures (i.e. the surface fibers of the substrate material become more resistant to cutting/rupture) thus increasing the effectiveness of the head. In other words, the relief feature actually increases the strength of the substrate material adjacent the head to resist pull-through. Second, the resulting geometry of the head is more resistant to deformation than enlarged head fasteners and standard washer-like components, which have a thin, uniform thickness and are substantially planar in shape. Accordingly, the failure mode that occurs in such fasteners where the enlarged head and/or washer-like component is turned inside out like an umbrella after pulling through the substrate material is substantially eliminated. Third, the pull-through resistance of the disclosed fasteners increases to a greater extent when the thickness of the substrate material is increased. Testing has shown that this level of fastener performance is not achieved by the small-head fasteners, the enlarged head fasteners, or the fasteners with standard washer-like components described above. Advantageously, the teachings set forth herein can be applied to a wide range of different fastener types, including nail-like fasteners, screw-like fasteners, and bolt-like fasteners.
Other advantages of the present invention will be readily appreciated, as the same becomes better understood by reference to the following detailed description when considered in connection with the accompanying drawings wherein:
Referring to the Figures, wherein like numerals indicate corresponding parts throughout the several views, a compression indentation fastener device 20 is illustrated.
Example embodiments will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings. Example embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough, and will fully convey the scope to those who are skilled in the art. Numerous specific details are set forth such as examples of specific components, devices, and methods, to provide a thorough understanding of embodiments of the present disclosure. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that specific details need not be employed, that example embodiments may be embodied in many different forms and that neither should be construed to limit the scope of the disclosure. In some example embodiments, well-known processes, well-known device structures, and well-known technologies are not described in detail.
The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular example embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting. As used herein, the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the” may be intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. The terms “comprises,” “comprising,” “including,” and “having,” are inclusive and therefore specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof. The method steps, processes, and operations described herein are not to be construed as necessarily requiring their performance in the particular order discussed or illustrated, unless specifically identified as an order of performance. It is also to be understood that additional or alternative steps may be employed.
When an element or layer is referred to as being “on,” “engaged to,” “connected to,” or “coupled to” another element or layer, it may be directly on, engaged, connected or coupled to the other element or layer, or intervening elements or layers may be present. In contrast, when an element is referred to as being “directly on,” “directly engaged to,” “directly connected to,” or “directly coupled to” another element or layer, there may be no intervening elements or layers present. Other words used to describe the relationship between elements should be interpreted in a like fashion (e.g., “between” versus “directly between,” “adjacent” versus “directly adjacent,” etc.). As used herein, the term “and/or” includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items.
Although the terms first, second, third, etc. may be used herein to describe various elements, components, regions, layers and/or sections, these elements, components, regions, layers and/or sections should not be limited by these terms. These terms may be only used to distinguish one element, component, region, layer or section from another region, layer or section. Terms such as “first,” “second,” and other numerical terms when used herein do not imply a sequence or order unless clearly indicated by the context. Thus, a first element, component, region, layer or section discussed below could be termed a second element, component, region, layer or section without departing from the teachings of the example embodiments.
Spatially relative terms, such as “inner,” “outer,” “beneath,” “below,” “lower,” “above,” “upper,” and the like, may be used herein for ease of description to describe one element or feature's relationship to another element(s) or feature(s) as illustrated in the figures. Spatially relative terms may be intended to encompass different orientations of the device in use or operation in addition to the orientation depicted in the figures. For example, if the device in the figures is turned over, elements described as “below” or “beneath” other elements or features would then be oriented “above” the other elements or features. Thus, the example term “below” can encompass both an orientation of above and below. The device may be otherwise oriented (rotated 90 degrees or at other orientations) and the spatially relative descriptors used herein interpreted accordingly. The term “substantially parallel,” as used herein, means that the recited elements are exactly parallel or are arranged at an angle ranging between and including plus or minus 5 degrees. The term “substantially perpendicular,” as used herein, means that the recited elements are arranged at an angle ranging between and including 85 degrees and 95 degrees.
With reference to
The tip 26 is disposed at the first end 30 of the shank 22. Although a wide variety of different tip configurations may be utilized, in the examples illustrated, the tip 26 tapers from the shank width 36 at a location disposed adjacent the first end 30 of the shank 22 to a point 40 at a location that is spaced outwardly from the first end 30. The tip 26 has at least two angled sides 42. It should be appreciated that in
Referring to
The posterior side 50 of the head 24 may be divided into an inner surface area 62 and an outer surface area 64. The shank axis 28 intersects the inner surface area 62 and the outer surface area 64 generally extends about at least part of the inner surface area 62. In the examples illustrated in
Where the compression indentation fastener device 20 is provided in the nail-like arrangement, as illustrated in
As shown in
The bearing surface 78 defines a reference plane 80 that is substantially parallel to the transverse plane 46 and that is substantially perpendicular to the shank axis 28. In configurations where the bearing surface 78 is planar and perpendicular to the shank axis 28, the reference plane 80 extends along the bearing surface 78. In configurations where the bearing surface 78 is non-planar and/or is not perpendicular to the shank axis 28, the reference plane 80 is tangential to the bearing surface 78. In other words, the reference plane 80 touches the bearing surface 78 at points that are most distant from the inner surface area 62 of the posterior side 50 (i.e. points that are closest to the first end 30 of the shank 22). Depending on the geometry of the head 24, the reference plane 80, as defined by the bearing surface 78, may be spaced from the transverse plane 46 or may be co-extensive with the transverse plane 46. Based upon the foregoing description, it should be appreciated the posterior side 50 of the head 24 is located to one side A of the reference plane 80 and the shank 22 is located to an opposite side B of the reference plane 80.
Still referring to
As shown in
With reference to
With reference to
The head 24 is made of a rigid material 120 that resists deformation when the shank 22, the tip 26, and the head 24 of the compression indentation fastener device 20 move together from the first impacted position to the second impacted position. As the term is used herein, “rigid” is a defined hardness of the head 24 relative to the substrate material 66, where the rigid material 120 of the head 24 is harder than the substrate material 66. The shank 22 and the tip 26 may also be made as the rigid material 120, or alternatively, may be made of a different material. The substrate material 66 is a solid as opposed to a liquid, gas, gel, or slurry and has the geometric form of a board or a sheet. The substrate material 66 may be a fibrous material and may be made of wood or a wood-like material. For example, the substrate material 66 may be selected from a group consisting of: lumber, siding, plywood, fiberboard, and oriented strand board. In accordance with this example, the rigid material 120 of the head 24 may have a hardness of at least 3.5 on the Mohs hardness scale, which exceeds the hardness of the substrate materials 66 listed. More particularly, the rigid material 120 of the head 24 may range from 3.5 to 6.5 on the Mohs hardness scale. By virtue of the relative hardness of the rigid material 120 forming the head 24 in comparison to the softer substrate material 66, the substrate material 66 yields to the bearing surface 78 and the convergent and divergent surfaces 96, 98 of the relief portion 76 as the head 24 is driven into the substrate material 66 towards the second impacted position. As will be explained in greater detail below, this causes the substrate material 66 to compress and shift laterally at locations adjacent the bearing surface 78 and the convergent and divergent surfaces 96, 98 of the relief portion 76, strengthening the substrate material 66 to increase pull-through resistance.
With reference to
Again with reference to
F1>F2>F3>F4>F5>F6>F7>F8
Because the bearing surface 78 creates the area of densely compacted substrate D in the substrate material 66 at a location adjacent the bearing surface 78 and because the inner transition radius 84 and the outer transition radius 82 are rounded and provide a smooth reduction in force between the first force F1 applied by the bearing surface 78, the fourth force F4 applied by the divergent surface 98, and the eight force F8 applied by the head periphery 58, the surface fibers of the substrate material 66 are less prone to becoming cut and/or ruptured. These features thus add to the pull-through resistance of the compression indentation fastener device 20.
With reference to
With reference to
In the example illustrated
With reference to
Referring now to
Referring to
In addition, the head 24 of the compression indentation fastener device 20 may be elongated in the transverse plane 46. Still referring to
As one would expect, the pull-through resistance of each fastener increased as the thickness 148 of the substrate material 66 was increased. However, somewhat unexpectedly, the pull-through resistance of the small-head fastener and the enlarged head fastener did not increase proportionally with the increase in thickness 148 of the substrate material 66, but increased at a lesser rate. This is likely due to the fact that the planar geometry of the small-head fastener and the enlarged head fastener cuts and/or ruptures the surface fibers of the substrate material 66 once a certain amount of force is applied to the fastener.
In
By contrast, the fourth line 212, which corresponds to the pull-through performance of the compression indentation fastener device 20 described herein, has a slope that is greater than the slope of the first line 206. This means that the values for ultimate yield pull-through resistance of the disclosed compression indentation fastener device 20 outpaced the increase in the thickness 148 of the substrate material 66. In other words, if the thickness 148 of the substrate material 66 is doubled, the ultimate yield pull-through resistance of the disclosed compression indentation fastener device 20 would more than double.
An additional performance advantage is illustrated with reference to horizontal datum line 214, which corresponds to the lowest ultimate yield pull-through resistance value of the disclosed compression indentation fastener device 20 (i.e. the value for the 15/32 of an inch thickness 148). The highest ultimate yield pull-through resistance value achieved by the enlarged head fastener is less than the horizontal datum line 214, and thus the lowest ultimate yield pull-through resistance value of the disclosed compression indentation fastener device 20, by an offset value S. In similar fashion, the highest ultimate yield pull-through value achieved by the small-head fastener is less than the horizontal datum line 214, and thus the lowest ultimate yield pull-through resistance value of the disclosed compression indentation fastener device 20, by value T. The benefits of the compression indentation fastener device 20 described herein are therefore evident in the plot shown in
Now referring to
The method includes the step illustrated by block 320, which provides for applying a first force F1 to the substrate material 66 by transmission through the bearing surface 78 to form an area of densely compacted substrate D in the substrate material 66 adjacent the bearing surface 78. The step illustrated by block 320 may include applying the first force F1 to the substrate material 66 in a direction that is substantially parallel to the shank axis 28. The method includes the step illustrated by block 330, which provides for applying second and third forces F2, F3 to the substrate material 66 in divergent directions on opposite sides of the bearing surface 78 by transmission through the inner transition radius 84 and the outer transition radius 82. The method includes the step illustrated by block 340, which provides for applying fourth and fifth forces F4, F5 to the substrate material 66 in converging directions by transmission through the convergent and divergent surfaces 96, 98 of the relief portion 76 to laterally displace and compress the substrate material 66 adjacent the convergent and divergent surfaces 96, 98. The step illustrated by block 340 may include applying the fourth and fifth forces F4, F5 in converging directions that are oblique to the shank axis 28. The method further includes the step illustrated by block 350, which provides for applying a sixth force F6 to the substrate material 66 in a direction that is substantially parallel to the shank axis 28 by transmission through the peak 100 of the relief portion 76 to further compact the substrate material 66 adjacent the relief portion 76.
Additionally, the method includes the step illustrated by block 360, which provides for applying a seventh force F7 to the substrate material 66 adjacent the shank 22 by transmission through the exterior surface 34 of the shank 22 and the step illustrated by block 370, which provides for applying an eighth force F8 to the substrate material 66 adjacent the head periphery 58 by transmission through the head periphery 58. In the steps illustrated by block 360 and block 370, the seventh and eighth forces F7, F8 may be applied in a direction that is substantially perpendicular to the shank axis 28, meaning that the seventh and eighth forces F7, F8 are directed outwardly on the substrate material 66 relative to the shank axis 28. The method may also include the step illustrated by block 380, which provides for continuing to apply the first force F1 through the eighth force F8 until the compression indentation fastener device 20 reaches the second impacted position.
It should be appreciated that although steps 300-380 of the method are described and illustrated herein in a particular order, steps 300-380 may be performed in a different order without departing from the scope of the present disclosure, except where the order of the steps is otherwise noted.
Obviously, many modifications and variations of the present invention are possible in light of the above teachings and may be practiced otherwise than as specifically described while within the scope of the appended claims. These antecedent recitations should be interpreted to cover any combination in which the inventive novelty exercises its utility. The use of the word “said” in the apparatus claims refers to an antecedent that is a positive recitation meant to be included in the coverage of the claims whereas the word “the” precedes a word not meant to be included in the coverage of the claims. In addition, the reference numerals in the claims are merely for convenience and are not to be read in any way as limiting.
Claims
1. A compression indentation fastener device having a nail-like arrangement comprising:
- a shank extending along a shank axis and between a first end and a second end, said shank having a shank diameter and an exterior surface that is smooth and has a cylindrical shape;
- a head disposed at said second end of said shank, said head extending outwardly from said second end of said shank in a transverse plane that is substantially perpendicular to said shank axis to define a head periphery;
- said head having an anterior side adjacent said second end of said shank and a posterior side opposite said anterior side, said anterior side of said head including an exposed area arranged to impact a first surface of a substrate material, said exposed area extending between said second end of said shank and said head periphery;
- said anterior side of said head including a relief portion disposed between said shank and said head periphery, said relief portion spaced radially inward of said head periphery to define a bearing surface that is disposed radially between said relief portion and said head periphery, wherein said relief portion is a depression that extends continuously about said second end of said shank and that is open at said anterior side of said head to receive and compress a volume of the substrate material when said exposed area of said anterior side of said head impacts the first surface of the substrate material, creating an area of densely compacted substrate at a location adjacent said bearing surface; and
- said head including a convergent surface extending radially outwardly from said second end of said shank to a peak of said relief portion on said anterior side of said head at a progressively increasing diameter such that said head has a diameter that is greater than said shank diameter at all points along said convergent surface and a divergent surface extending outwardly from said peak to said bearing surface, wherein said convergent surface is smooth and has a frustoconical shape,
- wherein said bearing surface has a planar, ring-like shape that defines a reference plane that is substantially parallel to said transverse plane and that is substantially perpendicular to said shank axis, said posterior side of said head being located to one side of said reference plane and said first end of said shank being located to an opposite side of said reference plane,
- wherein said head is made of a rigid material that has a hardness of at least 3.5 on Mohs hardness scale.
2. The compression indentation fastener device set forth in claim 1 wherein said head is moveable between a first impacted position and a second impacted position, said reference plane of said bearing surface is adapted to be aligned with the first surface of the substrate material in said first impacted position, and at least a portion of said head is adapted to be embedded in the substrate material in said second impacted position.
3. The compression indentation fastener device set forth in claim 2 wherein said rigid material of said head resists deformation when said head moves from said first impacted position to said second impacted position, said rigid material of said head is adapted to be harder than the substrate material.
4. The compression indentation fastener device set forth in claim 2 wherein said bearing surface is adapted to apply a first force to the substrate material as said head moves from said first impacted position to said second impacted position to form an area of densely compacted substrate in the substrate material adjacent said bearing surface and wherein said convergent and divergent surfaces of said relief portion are adapted to apply a second force and a third force to the substrate material as said head moves from said first impacted position to said second impacted position to laterally displace and compress the substrate material adjacent said convergent and divergent surfaces and form the volume of substrate material that is received by said relief portion.
5. The compression indentation fastener device set forth in claim 2 wherein said bearing surface extends between an outer transition radius and an inner transition radius, said outer transition radius disposed between said bearing surface and said head periphery, said inner transition radius disposed between said bearing surface and said divergent surface of said relief portion, said outer transition radius and said inner transition radius providing round, gradual transitions between said head periphery, said bearing surface, and said relief portion that are adapted to prevent surface fibers at the first surface of the substrate material from becoming cut as said head moves from said first impacted position to said second impacted position.
6. The compression indentation fastener device set forth in claim 1 wherein said divergent surface defines a divergent surface reference line that intersects said shank axis at a first acute angle and at a first location disposed on said side of said reference plane where said posterior side of said head is located.
7. The compression indentation fastener device set forth in claim 6 wherein said convergent surface defines a convergent surface reference line that intersects said shank axis at a second acute angle and at a second location disposed on said opposite side of said reference plane where said first end of said shank is located, said first acute angle being greater than said second acute angle.
8. The compression indentation fastener device set forth in claim 1 wherein said convergent and divergent surfaces join one another at said peak of said relief portion, said peak disposed between said reference plane and said posterior surface of said head.
9. The compression indentation fastener device set forth in claim 1 wherein said shank and said head are integral as part of a one-piece structure.
10. The compression indentation fastener device set forth in claim 1 wherein said convergent surface extends between a first terminus and a second terminus, said first terminus disposed along said shank between said reference plane and said first end of said shank, and said second terminus disposed at the peak of the relief portion between said posterior side of said head and said reference plane.
11. A compression indentation fastener device having a nail-like arrangement comprising:
- a shank extending along a shank axis and between a first end and a second end;
- a tip that smoothly tapers to a point at said first end of said shank;
- a head disposed at said second end of said shank, said head extending outwardly from said second end of said shank in a transverse plane that is substantially perpendicular to said shank axis to define a head periphery;
- said shank having a shank diameter and an exterior surface consisting of a smooth cylindrical shape that runs the entire length of said shank from said head to said tip;
- said head having an anterior side adjacent said second end of said shank and a posterior side opposite said anterior side, said anterior side of said head including an exposed area arranged to impact a first surface of a substrate material, said exposed area extending between said second end of said shank and said head periphery;
- said anterior side of said head including a relief portion disposed between said shank and said head periphery, said relief portion spaced radially inward of said head periphery to define a bearing surface that is disposed radially between said relief portion and said head periphery, wherein said relief portion is a depression that extends continuously about said second end of said shank and that is open at said anterior side of said head to receive and compress a volume of the substrate material when said exposed area of said anterior side of said head impacts the first surface of the substrate material, creating an area of densely compacted substrate at a location adjacent said bearing surface; and
- said head including a convergent surface extending radially outwardly from said second end of said shank to a peak of said relief portion on said anterior side of said head at a progressively increasing diameter such that said head has a diameter that is greater than said shank diameter at all points along said convergent surface and a divergent surface extending outwardly from said peak to said bearing surface, wherein said convergent surface is smooth and has a frustoconical shape,
- wherein said head is made of a rigid material that has a hardness of at least 3.5 on Mohs hardness scale.
12. The compression indentation fastener device set forth in claim 11 wherein said exterior surface of said shank is threadless.
13. A compression indentation fastener device having a nail-like arrangement comprising:
- a shank extending along a shank axis and between a first end and a second end, said shank having a shank diameter and an exterior surface that is smooth and has a cylindrical shape;
- a head disposed at said second end of said shank, said head extending outwardly from said second end of said shank in a transverse plane that is substantially perpendicular to said shank axis to define a head periphery;
- said head having an anterior side adjacent said second end of said shank and a posterior side opposite said anterior side, said anterior side of said head including an exposed area arranged to impact a first surface of a substrate material, said exposed area extending between said second end of said shank and said head periphery;
- said anterior side of said head including a relief portion disposed between said shank and said head periphery, said relief portion spaced radially inward of said head periphery to define a bearing surface that is disposed radially between said relief portion and said head periphery, wherein said relief portion is a depression that extends continuously about said second end of said shank and that is open at said anterior side of said head to receive and compress a volume of the substrate material when said exposed area of said anterior side of said head impacts the first surface of the substrate material, creating an area of densely compacted substrate at a location adjacent said bearing surface; and
- said head including a convergent surface extending radially outwardly from said second end of said shank to a peak of said relief portion on said anterior side of said head at a progressively increasing diameter such that said head has a diameter that is greater than said shank diameter at all points along said convergent surface and a divergent surface extending outwardly from said peak to said bearing surface, wherein said convergent surface is smooth and has a frustoconical shape,
- wherein said bearing surface has a planar, ring-like shape that defines a reference plane that is substantially parallel to said transverse plane and that is substantially perpendicular to said shank axis, said posterior side of said head being located to one side of said reference plane and said first end of said shank being located to an opposite side of said reference plane,
- wherein said head is moveable between a first impacted position and a second impacted position, said reference plane of said bearing surface is adapted to be aligned with the first surface of the substrate material in said first impacted position, and at least a portion of said head is adapted to be embedded in the substrate material in said second impacted position,
- wherein said head is made of a rigid material that resists deformation when said head moves from said first impacted position to said second impacted position, said rigid material of said head is adapted to be harder than the substrate material,
- wherein said rigid material of said head has a hardness of at least 3.5 on Mohs hardness scale.
| 112335 | March 1871 | Linsey |
| 387380 | August 1888 | Thayer |
| 954924 | April 1910 | Brooks |
| 1320901 | November 1919 | Nestor |
| 1395960 | November 1921 | Hill |
| 1407641 | February 1922 | Cross |
| 1494028 | May 1924 | Schulte |
| 1620193 | March 1927 | Coates |
| 1820556 | August 1931 | Campbell |
| 1995705 | March 1935 | Deniston, Jr. |
| 2032099 | February 1936 | Rosenberg |
| 2048093 | July 1936 | Alpeters |
| 2086086 | July 1937 | Lassonde |
| 2093610 | September 1937 | Kraemer |
| 2099990 | November 1937 | Rosenberg |
| 2140749 | December 1938 | Kaplan |
| 2207897 | July 1940 | Schaus |
| 2226006 | December 1940 | Maze |
| 2256401 | September 1941 | Maze |
| 2334406 | November 1943 | Gray |
| 4726164 | February 23, 1988 | Reinwall et al. |
| 4860513 | August 29, 1989 | Whitman |
| 4884932 | December 5, 1989 | Meyer |
| 4932820 | June 12, 1990 | Schniedermeier |
| 5031262 | July 16, 1991 | Baritz |
| 5039262 | August 13, 1991 | Giannuzzi |
| 5069589 | December 3, 1991 | Lemke |
| 5154670 | October 13, 1992 | Sygnator et al. |
| 5407313 | April 18, 1995 | Bruins et al. |
| 5516248 | May 14, 1996 | DeHaitre |
| 5622464 | April 22, 1997 | Dill |
| 6758018 | July 6, 2004 | Sutt, Jr. |
| 7374384 | May 20, 2008 | Sutt, Jr. |
| 7395925 | July 8, 2008 | Sutt, Jr. |
| 7818940 | October 26, 2010 | Herb |
| 7850410 | December 14, 2010 | Curtis |
| 8375549 | February 19, 2013 | Draht |
| 8529180 | September 10, 2013 | Sargis |
| 8726581 | May 20, 2014 | Zimmerman et al. |
| 8794893 | August 5, 2014 | Aihara et al. |
| 8998056 | April 7, 2015 | Huang et al. |
| 9163654 | October 20, 2015 | Barenski, Jr. et al. |
| 20030175093 | September 18, 2003 | Walther |
| 20040228705 | November 18, 2004 | Baer et al. |
| 20070204552 | September 6, 2007 | Onofrio |
| 20070224020 | September 27, 2007 | Hsieh et al. |
| 20100172719 | July 8, 2010 | Maltais et al. |
| 20100183403 | July 22, 2010 | Ali et al. |
| 20100196122 | August 5, 2010 | Craven |
| 20100224038 | September 9, 2010 | Evatt |
| 20140076954 | March 20, 2014 | Miller et al. |
| 2508041 | August 2002 | CN |
| 19506081 | August 1996 | DE |
| 19508454 | September 1996 | DE |
| 7322030 | June 1955 | GB |
| 818246 | August 1959 | GB |
| 947816 | January 1964 | GB |
| 1046456 | October 1966 | GB |
| 2001280318 | October 2001 | JP |
| 2001280324 | October 2001 | JP |
| 2004316761 | November 2004 | JP |
| 2006250231 | September 2006 | JP |
| 2010116949 | May 2010 | JP |
| 2011528772 | November 2011 | JP |
| D1437446 | April 2012 | JP |
| D1473814 | July 2013 | JP |
| WO-0106135 | January 2001 | WO |
| WO-2006039412 | April 2006 | WO |
- International Search Report and Written Opinion of the International Searching Authority for PCT/US2016/044962, dated Nov. 8, 2016.
- International Preliminary Report on Patentability for PCT/US2015/035188 dated Dec. 22, 2016.
- International Search Report for PCT/US2015/035190, dated Sep. 23, 2015.
- Written Opinion of the International Searching Authority for PCT/US20105/035190, dated Sep. 23, 2015.
- U.S. Appl. No. 15/100,168, filed May 27, 2016, Scott Drummond, et al.
- U.S. Appl. No. 15/223,179, filed Jul. 29, 2016, Steve Zimmerman, et al.
- Notice of Third Party Submissions Under the Japanese Patent Law Enforcement Regulation 3-2 for JP 2016-572505, mailed Dec. 11, 2017.
- EP Supplementary Search Report and Written Opinion for EP 15806959.1, dated Jan. 4, 2018.
- EP Supplementary Search Report and Written Opinion for EP 15805869.3, dated Jan. 4, 2018.
- International Search Report for PCT/US2015/035188, dated Sep. 23, 2015.
- Written Opinion of the International Searching Authority for PCT/US2015/035188, dated Sep. 23, 2015.
Type: Grant
Filed: Jun 10, 2015
Date of Patent: Jan 22, 2019
Patent Publication Number: 20150354613
Assignee: SR Systems, LLC (Tuscaloosa, AL)
Inventors: Scott Drummond (Tuscaloosa, AL), Steve Zimmerman (Linden, AL), Van T. Walworth (Lebanon, TN)
Primary Examiner: Gary W Estremsky
Application Number: 14/735,920
International Classification: F16B 15/02 (20060101); F16B 5/06 (20060101); F16B 15/06 (20060101); B21K 1/46 (20060101); F16B 35/06 (20060101); F16B 43/02 (20060101);
